The Forest of Enchantments - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Palace of Illusions was one book that had blown my mind. Chitra's portrayal of Draupadi was real, complex, rebellious yet submissive at times, arrogant, enigmatic, powerful and what not. She is flawed and yet perfect....very much human. Palace of Illusions was written from the perspective of Draupadi. We have read the epic Mahabharata from so many writers and from many perspectives and yet Draupadi's perspective was refreshing to know. And my expectation form Chitra was already set high. After this book I reread Mistress of Spices. Here too her portrayal of Tilo left me craving for more. I started off with high expectation when I brought the book The Forest of Enchantments. I knew that the author had written the book form the perspective of Sita. And I had wanted to read Ramayana from the perspective of Sita very badly.

I have grown up being told that it is not good to name any girl child Sita or any of her other names like Janaki, Dhara, Dharitri, Siya, Maithili, , etc. The reason being that all Sita did in her lifetime was suffer and nothing else and if we name our daughters Sita or any of her other names, the same fate maybe in store the child. So in general we all know that Sita suffered throughout the epic story of Ramayana, So I was naturally curious when I picked up the Forest of Enchantments. I wanted to read about her experience as an adopted kid, her relationship with her peers and parents. I was very curious to know her perspective of being a bride and entering a household which had three mother in laws and other concubines. What was she going through actually when she went with Rama into the forest. Did she ever regret going into exile with her husband? After all, we are all humans we naturally question our each and every move. Did she question her decision and regret it ever? How did she feel about Lakshman for abandoning Urmila for so many years? I wanted to learn about Lanka and Ashoka Vatika from Sita's perspective. And most of all I wanted to know her relationship with Rama... the intimacy and the realty of being a wife to someone and her reaction to all the betrayals she faced.

The word play by Chitra Banerjee is brilliant. This book did answer many of my curiosities about Sita. Her story telling is as always too good and there can be no other opinion about it. But it was definitely not Palace of Illusions and most definitely not like Draupadi's character. The book felt more like just another Ramayana book to me just told from Sita's voice. I guess I wanted Sita to be filled with rage, hate towards the injustice, more emotions and most of all I wanted her to be real.... human. There was rage, emotions and everything that I wanted, but it was all very muted. Sita surpasses her emotions as much as possible. Eventually Sita rebels and stands up against the system, but I waned to feel Sita's rage against the injustice and not my rage.  Sita felt very much like how we have read in other Ramayana versions..... It was in a way a bit disappointing for me personally as I have felt that female characters in our epics are very strong characters and yet mostly they are pushed into the background and every major decisions are taken by the male characters. A female is always either a revered or a servile character but when it comes to decision making, they are never taken into consideration and always female characters have to be either a damsel in distress or made a villain . How often have we heard people saying that in Ramayana and Mahabharata war took place because of Sita and Draupadi as if by blaming the female characters one can hide the fact that the male characters created the circumstances that led to war. 

Overall this Sitayan had its hits and misses. The author also writes about other neglected characters in this book like Sunaina - Sita's mother, Kaikeyi - Rama's 'evil' stepmother, Urmila - Lakshmn's wife ( although I wanted more) ,  Surpanakha -  Ravan's sister and  Mandodari - Ravan's wife. We get to know each one of these female characters more and from other perspectives. Chitra Banerjee weaves all the characters so well and makes us desire more.  She makes the character of Ravana as a very learnt and an intelligent man who respects Sita. Overall I did enjoy the book and is a must read for everyone as it teaches us how one should treat others especially women and also how not to treat them. 

We Are All Made Of Glue!

 I am finally back to blogging!! Or so I am hoping.

I have been wanting to write reviews of the books that I have been reading recently and my first post would be of the book  "We are all made of Glue". I mean .... just look at the title!! If this title doesn't attract anybody to pick up the book then I don't know what else will :)

This was the first book I read this year. I love exploring old book stores, second hand book stores and the likes, more than I like the big bad book stores in the malls (I love them too....slightly less I guess). So in the month of December of 2019, when going out was still prevalent and life was normal, I had made a trip to Jehangir Gallery in Mumbai and if you have been to the area you might have seen that if you walk towards Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus from the gallery, there are quite a few small stalls and small shops selling new and second hand books near the Hutatma Chowk. I simply love those quaint little shops and road side stalls. You cannot guess what you might find there! You might just stumble upon a rare book or just a generic one. They sell academic related books, art catalogues, magazines, novels and everything that one can find. And in one such shop I brought this book. This book was published by Readers Digest which are called Readers Digest Condensed Books or Select Editions where they put four different novels in a single book. I have quite a few of those readers digest collectible books and I was thrilled to find this one. This book had John Grisham's The Associate, Nicci French's What to do when Someone Dies, Death or Glory by Michael Asher and the last one was We are all made of Glue by Marina Lewycka.

And to be honest, I had never heard the author's name nor the name of the book. But this title itself was so intriguing that I had to read this one first. Marina Lewycka is a British author of Ukrainian origin and a quick Google search led me to her many other books which I am planning to read in the near future. This book has many characters but the main stars are Georgina Sinclair and her elderly neighbour, Mrs. Shapiro and I must add her cats too ;).  It is set somewhere in the late 1980s or early 1990s I think as one can see the usage of computers and the likes. Also the kind of relationship the neighbours had back then cannot be found in this date and age, especially in the Metros. The novel begins with Georgina being dumped by her husband RIP, and her struggle trying to find a balance with her work, her 'End of World' obsessed son and her strange, dirty and mysterious neighbour, Mrs.Shapiro. She is a wannabe novelist writing articles for an adhesive company where she is writing articles and articles about glue, epoxy resin, etc.

There are too many things happening in the novel and at the same time it feels like things are moving very slowly and one is in a different era. The story makes one quite uneasy as its a comedy novel but at the same time it revolves around the theme of old age, neglect, ugliness, separation, dilapidation, holocaust, racism, etc. Its not easy to read, let alone write a novel where the basic tone is comedy and humour and yet the author plunges into the darker themes of holocaust and other themes and mixes them so well that it was difficult for me to comprehend the talent that Lewycka has. It is a very simple book that has layers and layers to it like an onion, and every time you peel one layer, another layer comes up which looks more interesting than the other one. It is engaging and intriguing and makes you laugh at an unexpected moment. The subtle nuances, the backdrop of holocaust, the betrayal, the tragedies of old age and abandonment are weaved so beautifully along with the small incidents and accidents that will make you laugh at an unexpected moment in this novel and I simply couldn't put the book down till I finished it.

I do hope that I write more frequently now. Do come back and check my blog in a few days or weeks for another article.